Lots of Apple products are launched stage-lit, introduced to millions by the company’s top executives. The MacBook Pro 16 was not. Tim Cook announced it on Twitter. There are millions of eyes there, of course, but it avoided Cook having to admit what the MacBook Pro 16 is. It is something of an apology for Apple’s recent MacBook strategy… Apple quietly dropping a major new product onto the Apple Store is like a too-proud friend apologising for a major bust up with a note slipped under your door. But the good news is this note is a heartfelt one.
Apple has offered the best laptop speakers for years now, but the MacBook Pro 16’s are in a different league to anything released yet… The MacBook Pro 16 has the richest sound system ever put into a laptop.
The MacBook Pro 16 keyboard is just as important a change, but this is one of regression rather than evolution. . Apple introduced its butterfly keyboard design in 2015. After five years of making us type on keys with all the depth and tone of a piece of eggshell cracked against a kitchen worktop, it has returned to a more traditional scissor design… [It’s] a very welcome shift back for anyone who loves everything about MacBooks apart from the keys (and the price, as no-one loves MacBook prices apart from Apple shareholders).
Battery life and speaker quality are superb. Add this to the performance of Intel’s Core i7 and Core i9 processors and you get one of the best large-but-portable laptops for creatives in the world.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s no one of, but the best large-but-portable personal computer for creatives in the world. Period.
That’s why we replaced our iMac/MacBook Air desktop/road setups with do-it-all 16-in MacBook Pros! (They run dual 4K monitors (LG 27UK850-W units), lids closed while on the desktop.)
As for performance:
Our MacBookPro16,1 (Intel Core i9-9980HK @ 2.40 GHz) scored 1217 (single core) and 7233 (multi-core) in Geekbench 5. #16InchMacBookPro https://t.co/9g0hhoJqfL
— MacDailyNews (@MacDailyNews) November 22, 2019
As a shop keeper and manager and meeter of famous people, this is the kind of laptop I’d happily sell, and for once, I had nothing to do with it. #MAppleGA
Many a time I’ve seen Mac users carrying their MBPs on their shoulder blasting tunes from their $4000 boom box.
Sounds great, but I just like a bit smaller, I hope Apple makes the same in 13”. A few things might not fit, but at least the screen and keyboard.
It says a lot about Apple’s new machines when I still prefer my 2012 unibody, 8 years of Cook dismantling the Jobs legacy. No usbA, no magsafe, no sd card reader and non repairable or upgradeable and the cost of them have roughly doubled…But he gave us a bigger screen and computer with better speakers which no one asked for….
Yes it is an apology but a half assed one, bring back magsafe, usbA and the SD card reader and THEN we are getting into apology territory.
A lot of people will be happy with the 16″ as they have been calling out for a 17″ since Apple decided to stop selling them. The ‘dongle’ situation though is inexcusable. Jobs would have had a fit about the inelegant way the ports on the Touchbar Macbooks were done. And I’m willing to bet the touchbar wouldn’t have even existed under his watch. I’m pretty sure most users prefer real keys.
I actually don’t mind the dongles. I love that my MBP has four high speed ports and because I use it touring in theatre work, I love that I can connect the power and dongles to either side of the machine to fit whatever (usually small) space or desk I have to work on.
Dongles are not an issue for me.
John Dongler, communist is an issue for me though.